Ubietous block



Jan. 18, 1966 s o 3,229,439

UBIETO UUUUU CK Filed July 2, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet l 7 E 12" d. 30 34 27c,3 2

32 30c 25 I k 326 INVENTO GORDON E STRO A TTO/PNEV Jan. 18, 1966 G. F.STROBEL 3,229,439

UBIETOUS BLOCK Filed July 2, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. 33; GORDONE .STROBEL A T TOR/V57 United States Patent 3,229,439 UBIETOUS BLOCKGordon F. Strobel, 1712 Jaynes St., Berkeley, Calif. Filed July 2, 1962,Ser. No. 206,683 3 Claims. (Cl. 52591) The invention relates to asix-sided block which has inherent advantages for interlocking strength,for texture and for design. It finds particular usefulness as a buildingblock much the same as common brick, and for numerous other uses andpurposes.

The common six-sided brick has been in use for hundreds of years as aprimary building element, and although it has varied in size, it hasalways had dimensions which would permit modular use in almost anycombination. In general it has always been twice as long as its widthand one-fourth as thick as it is long. With such a modular shape it waspossible to use half bricks, quarter bricks and even eighth bricks incombination with whole bricks in order to achieve various designs,shapes and contours with respect to any particular building unit.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a buildingunit element which will maintain the advantages of the common brick formand which will achieve in addition an increased usefulness, both instructural integrity and in aesthetic appeal.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a primary buildingelement or block which is based upon a surface configuration of one maleand one female, or one convex and one concave portion of any suitablegeometric design, mating with each other with respect to any of its sixfaces.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a primary buildingelement which mates with another similar building element or portionthereof on any of its six sides to form a building unit.

It is a further object to provide primary building elements which aremutually self-aligning and will lay up in true vertical, lateral orangled positions with a minimum of skill and without the use of specialtools.

While it is not quite accurate to say that the building unit of thepresent invention interlocks with other similar units, neverthelessthere is a sufiicient mating to provide an interrelationship orinterlocking so that it is reasonable to state that it is an object ofthe present invention to provide an interlocking building unit whichwill accomplish this function on all six sides and provide higher shearstrength than has heretofore been obtainable with fiat-sided buildingunits such as brick.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a building unitor block in which the interlocking effect is sufiicient to require aminimum of mortar or other adhesive to join them together into a unitarystructure.

t is a further object of this invention to provide a unit building blockwhere the joints can be staggered at any multiple of the primaryelement.

It is another object to provide an inter-related or interlocked buildingblock unit where the joints have superior resistance to moisturepenetration.

It is-still another object of the invention to provide a unitarybuilding block which can be made of any suitable material such as glass,plastics, clay, concrete or other natural or artificial solid buildingmaterial.

It is a further object of this invention to provide interlocking orinter-mating building block units which are suitable for non-mortared ortemporary work, for professional model building, architecturaltreatments of walls, artistic displays, or any other work wherestability and an attractive surface are desired.

Instead of the plain face of a brick wall, it is an object Patented Jan.18, .1966

of the present invention to present a design or textured surface basedupon the particular male and female shapes employed in the unit block.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide abuilding block unit of cubes, tetrahedrons and the like, which willfunction to interlock in a similar manner, in all cases where the turnsare the conventional angles and in all other angles with no mating atthe ends.

Further objects are to provide a construction of maximum simplicity,economy and ease of assembly and disassembly, also such further objects,advantages and capabilities as will fully appear and as are inherentlypossessed by the device and invention described herein.

The invention further resides in the combination, construction andarrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and whilethere is shown therein a preferred embodiment thereof, and severalvariant forms, it is to be understood that the same is merelyillustrative of the invention and that the invention is capable ofmodification and change and comprehends other details of constructionwithout departing from the spirit thereof or the scope of the appendedclaims.

Referring to the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a building unit block where thealternating male and female forms are foursided equilateral pyramidshaving a very low elevation, or depression as the case may be;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the basic building unit;

FIGURE 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line III-III ofFIGURE 1, and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line IVIV of FIGURE1, and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 5 is a longitudinal section taken on the line V-V of FIGURE 1,looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of the block shown in plan view in FIGURE1;

FIGURE 7 illustrates schematically the use of this building block unitin staggered relation as is customary in the laying of bricks in themaking of a wall having a right angle turn;

FIGURE 8 is a schematic side elevational view of one block shown makinga 90 vertical turn with another block;

FIGURE 9 is a variation of the block in which a cube or cylinder is usedinstead of the pyramidical forms shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 10 is another variant form where the foursided pyramidical formor a cone form interlocking extensions have depressions inward of thefaces of the nor? mal building element;

FIGURE 11 is a sectional view of a building unit where the male andfemale forms are spherical; and

FIGURE 12 is still another variant where the interlocking forms areeither extending domes or hemispherical depressions spaced inwardly. I

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, and particularly to thebasic forms which are shown in FIG- URES l to 8 inclusive, it will beseen that fundamentally the rectangular shape of the building block 20is maintained. For ease of explanation and for better understanding ofthe present invention, the block 20 will be divided into four quarters,20a, 20b, 20c, and 20d, each one of the quarters containing a system ofmale and female extensions or depressions. The numeral 21 represents theline for the top surface and 22 for the bottom surface. Likewise, thevertical planes of the end walls 23 and 24 are provided with male andfemale shapes or portions. Furthermore, the sidewalls 25 and 26 areprovided with alternately arranged male and female shapes. Looking atthe quarter unit 20a and with particular reference to FIGURES 1, 2 and3, it will be observed that the upper half is the male unit and. isprovided with a foursided equilateral pyramidical extension 27 risingabove the top surface 21. The end wall 23 is provided with asubstantially identical equilateral pyramidical form 28 and the sidewall26 has its pyramidical extension 30, while the bottom surface 22 has asubstantialy identical pyramidical extension 31. Thus the four adjacentsurfaces have substantially identical outwardly extending pyramids whichcover all of the available area in each instance.

The lower half of the quarter section 20a is the female portion integralwith the male portion having a corresponding equilateral pyramidicaldepression 32 in the top surface 21; a substantially identicaldepression 33 in the bottom surface 22; a substantially identicaldepression 34 in the sidewall 25, and still another depression 35 in theend wall 23. Thus, in the end quarter 20a the four exposed surfaces havesubstantially identical geometric pyramidical forms 27, 28, 30 and 31rising above their respective surfaces and the other half have identicaland conforming pyramidical depressions 32, 33, 34 and 35 in its foursurfaces. The transverse mid-section of the quarter 20a is shown inFIGURE 3. The angle of the pyramidical extensions and depressions may befrom one to forty-four degrees in altitude but it has been found intests and by experience that the ten degrees of elevation or depressionsshown in the drawings is superior and provides the optimum results.

Referring now to the next adjacent quarter section 20b and withreference to FIGURE 4, the male pyramidical extensions are in reverseposition on the top and bottom surfaces 21 and 22 respectively, and areindicated as 27b, 30b and 31b. Since the section 20b is contiguous andintegral with sections 20a and 20c, it has no end walls. Thecorresponding female pyramidical depressions are indicated 32b, 33b and34b. Here again, only the top, side and bottom surfaces are consideredbecause of the integrity of the sections.

The next unit for purposes of description is 200 and this likewise iscontiguous and integral with 20b. It is substantially identical withsection 20a. On its top surface 21 it has the raised pyramid 27c and thecorresponding depressed pyramidical shape 320. On the vertical sidewall26, it has the outward extending pyramid 30c and on its oppositesidewall 25 it has the depressed pyramidical shape 340. On the bottomsurface 22 it has the pyramid 31c and the pyramidical depression 330.

The next contiguous section is 20d and this conforms substantially withthe section 20b except it has the end wall 24 in addition. It will beobserved that section 20d is the reverse of section 20a. This sectionhas the pyramid 27d in the corresponding position of 27b and thepyramidical depression 32d adjacent thereto on the top surface 21. Onthe bottom surface 22 it has the pyramidical depression 33d and theraised pyramid 31d. On the sidewall 25 it has the raised pyramid 30d andon the opposite sidewall 26 it has the pyramidical depression 34d. Onthe end wall 24 it has the raised pyramid 28d and the pyramidicaldepression 35d.

It will be observed that on every surface the relationship of pyramidsand pyramidical depressions alternate and reverse so that on eachsurface there is alternately a raised pyramid and a depressedpyramidical portion. This is not true, however, of the juncture of thesurfaces as will be observed from FIGURES 1, 2, 3 and 4 where there is araised pyramid on the top surface, there is a corresponding raisedpyramid on the bottom surface and a raised pyramid on the sidewallbetween the juncture of the top and bottom surfaces. Where an end wall iinvolved there is likewise a raised pyramid between the top and bottomsurfaces.

The converse is also true with respect to the pyramidical depressions.The top and bottom surfaces having pyramidical depressions are in thesame relative location and the intersecting sidewalls between saidsections have corresponding pyramidical depressions. Where an end wallis concerned, the end wall between the two surfaces likewise has adepression.

It is thus apparent that a block such as shown in FIG- URE 1 willreadily mate or nest with another block in exactly the same relativeposition, i.e., bottom surface 22 against the upper surface 21, bymoving the upper block either one quarter section or three quarterssection. If placed in a continuous, contiguous line, the pyramid 28 ofone block will be received in the pyramidical depression 35d of the nextblock, while the pyramid 28d will enter into and be received by thedepression 35. If placed side-by-side in a horizontal plane, thecorresponding pyramids and depressions will mate precisely where theblocks are not offset relative to each other, or offset one half block.

011 the other hand, if a half block vertical sequence is indicated, thenthe next upper row of blocks is rotated so that the pyramid 27 will bereceived in the depression 32.

Thus, in every position whether by half or by quarter increments or bywhole increments, the blocks will mate one with the other and interlockto an extent that very little mortar or other cementitious material isrequired to hold them in interlocked position giving especial integrityand unusual strength to the wall formed thereby.

Referring to FIGURE 7, the conventional positioning of blocks in onehalf overlapping relationship, according to brick laying procedures, isshown and as indicated above, the blocks such as shown in FIGURE 1 willmate perfectly in forming such a wall. Obviously it is intended that theblocks 20 shall be the same for the entire wall and that it is notintended for use in conjunction with normal bricks or blocks. Therectangular blocks of FIGURE 7 are intended to be the same as the block20 and only one block 20 is shown because of the difliculty ofsatisfactory representation by drawing.

FIGURE 8 shows the interlocking of the block 20 with a similar block 20in a diagrammatic side elevational view.

Referring now to FIGURES 9 through 12, these all represent variantgeometric forms which may be substituted for the raised pyramids anddepressed pyramidical shapes shown and described with respect toFIGURE 1. FIGURES 9, 10, 11 and 12 are transverse vertical sectionstaken on a line which would correspond with the line IV-IV of FIGURE 1.

In FIGURE 9, the shapes 27W, 30w and 31w extend out from the top surface21, the sidewall 25 and the bottom surface 22. It is noted, however,that the shapes do not cover the entire area of the portioncorresponding to the pyramids 27, but are spaced inwardly and centrallyin their respective areas. Exactly the same type of interlocking isobtained, only perhaps more positively because of the greater depth andthe greater amount of angular contact and interlocking. However,precisely the same result is obtained in precisely the same manner asbefore described in connection with the building block member 20. Itshould also be noted that the drawing of FIG- URE 9 representscylindrical shapes as well as cubes.

In FIGURE 10, there is a raised pyramid 27x, 30x, and 31x, but as in thecase of the block 20w, the pyramid does not cover the entire area of thepyramid 27 and is higher in altitude. Accordingly, the depressions forreceiving the pyramids, which are depressions 32x, 33x and 34x arecorrespondingly deep and centered within the area. Here again, thedrawing of FIGURE 10 represents cone shapes as well as pyramidicalshapes.

As shown by FIGURES 11 and 12, it is not necessary to maintain anyangularity in order to obtain the advantages of this invention. A dome27y, 30y and 31y covering the entire area may be used to mate withcorresponding spherical dimples 32y, 33y and 34y.

Even the domes do not need to be of a size to cover the entire area butmay be less in area as shown by the domes in block 20z of FIGURE 12.Here the domes 27z, 30z and 31z are spaced inwardly and centrally of thearea and are adapted to be received in the corresponding dimples such as321, 332 and 341.

It is apparent that in all or any forms either illustrated in thedrawings or devised by those skilled in the art, will all operateidentically and will accomplish each and all of the advantages set forthin addition to many others. The term ubietous is particularlyappropriate because of the importance of the face-to-face relationship,regardless of which face, which is characteristic of this type of block.The interlocking of the various forms provides a stable integral wall ofgreat integrity and strength with a minimum of mortar and cementitiousmaterial, and at the same time providing an interesting and unusualtexture to the Wall surface.

It is equally apparent that the interlocking forms and shapes may be ofalmost infinite variety but that the essentials and fundamental conceptis described with respect to the block 20 of FIGURES 1 to 5 inclusive.

It will be observed that the building block of the present invention isa parallelepiped with all faces rectangular.

As shown in FIGURE 7 the bottom blocks should have a flat surface inorder to rest properly on a foundation or mud sill. Likewise it may benecessary to have the top of a wall, for example, flat. Both can beaccomplished by having at least one surface plain and without any raisedor depressed portions. Various combinations may be required, such ashaving one or both of the ends plain either alone or in combination withanother flat surface. All of these are contemplated as a part of thisinvention.

I claim:

1. A six sided building block interlocking at any one of its six sideswith any other such block at any one of its six sides, comprising aplurality of juxtaposed integral primary elements, each primary elementcomposed of a pair of uniform size cubes joined symmetrically at oneentire face, one cube having a convex pattern form on its exposed facesand the other having a complementary concave pattern on its exposedfaces each interlocking with similar complementary concave and convexpat terned faces of other identical blocks, said primary elements beingjuxtaposed in reverse units, each of said building blocks when composedof one or more of said primary elements having the convex patternedfaces on all exposed surfaces at one corner thereof with the matingconcave patterned faces on all exposed faces at the adjacent corner.

2. A modular six sided building block having a plurality of primaryelements joined integraly side by side, said block having surfacesinterlocking with identical blocks on any of its six sides, said primaryelements being a pair of uniform size cubes joined symmetrically at oneface, one cube having a uniform raised pattern on each of its exposedfaces and the other cube having a uniform complementary depressedpattern on each of its exposed faces, said primary elements beingarranged side by side alternately reversed, each of said building blockswhen composed of an even number of said primary elements having theraised symmetrical shape on all exposed faces of one corner cube withthe complementary depressed symmetrical shape on all exposed faces onthe adjacent corner cube.

3. A self-aligning uniform building block having the six surfaces of arectangular parallelepiped comprising a plurality of integral primaryelements arranged side by side, each of said primary elements beinguniformly sized cubes symmetrically joined at one face, one of saidcubes having a raised symmetrical geometric shape on each of its exposedsurfaces and the other cube having a depressed complementary symmetricalgeometric shape in each of its exposed surfaces, said primary elementsbeing in alternately reversed side by side arrangement, so that each ofits six surfaces will interlock and receive the raised and depressedcomplementary geometric shapes of any other such block on any one of itssix surfaces, each of said building blocks when composed of an evennumber of said primary elements having the raised symmetrical shape onall exposed faces of one corner cube with the complementary depressedsymmetrical shape on all exposed faces on the adjacent corner cube.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 470,377 3/ 1892Graham 94-13 903,907 11/1908 Soss 52S94 1,045,328 11/1912 Sammis 94-131,096,267 5/1914 Sammis 9413 FOREIGN PATENTS 23,328 10/ 1906 GreatBritain. 117,142 7/1918 Great Britain. 518,217 3/ 1955 Italy.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

WILLIAM I. MUSHAKE, JACOB L. NACKENOFF,

Examiners.

1. A SIX SIDED BUILDING BLOCK INTERLOCKING AT ANY ONE OF ITS SIX SIDES WITH ANY OTHER SUCH BLOCK AT ANY OF ITS SIX SIDES, COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF JUXTAPOSED INTEGRAL PRIMARY ELEMENTS, EACH PRIMARY ELEMENT COMPOSED OF A PAIR OF UNIFORM SIZE CUBES JOINED SYMMETRICALLY AT ONE ENTIRE FACE, ONE CUBE HAVING A CONVEX PATTERN FORM ON ITS EXPOSED FACES AND THE OTHER HAVING A COMPLEMENTARY CONCAVE PATTERN ON ITS EXPOSED FACES EACH INTERLOCKING WITH SIMILAR COMPLEMENTARY CONCAVE AND CONVEX PATTERNED FACES OF OTHER IDENTICAL BLOCKS, SAID PRIMARY ELEMENTS BEING JUXTAPOSED IN REVERSE UNITS, EACH OF SAID BUILDING BLOCKS WHEN COMPOSED OF ONE OR MORE OF SAID PRIMARY ELEMENTS HAVING THE CONVEX PATTERNED FACES ON ALL EXPOSED SURFACES AT ONE CORNER THEREOF WITH THE MATING CONCAVE PATTERNED FACES ON ALL EXPOSED FACES AT THE ADJACENT CORNER. 